PES 2011 MLO Overview

The Master League Online Beta has been open for several days and hundreds of players have taken up the opportunity to test drive the new game mode. Lots has been said about the gameplay, but the main objective of the test is to test out the functions of the Master League Online mode. With that in mind, here's a brief overview of what Master League online is and isn't.

The only thing MLO really shares with it's offline namesake is it's name. There aren't organised league structures, with transfer windows or coaching staff. The main objective of MLO is to build your ideal team and compete with other users around the world. Money is gained through quick matches and competitions, rather than sponsors and fan club income, and is spent solely on the team.

Everybody starts out from the same place. You can pick any team from the 5 leagues and you start with the Master League default line-up. If you choose an unlicensed team, you can edit the team name to anything you wish. After picking your team, you can delve straight into the game.

On the main menu screen, there are several option to choose from.

My Team allows you to edit your Gameplan without any time restrictions under match conditions. It also allows you to view your current squad list. From the squad list screen, there are various sorting options, and stats options. You can view how many games the player has played for you, how many goals and assists they've scored and if their valuation has changed since you purchased them (more on that a little later). You can also choose to release players from this screen as well.

One final option from the My Team menu is the option to 'Reset Team'. Some users might find themselves resorting to this if they run out of funds, or just fancy a fresh start. Resetting your team will effectively give you the chance to start the game mode a fresh, back to the original line-up and balance.

Now, the interesting bit. Transfers

Player valuations are initially based on the overall stat, but valuation will change depending on certain factors, the biggest factor being how many users are buying that player. Agbonlahor for example has seen his value increase by nearly 2 million after a dozen people have bought him. One more factor that plays a part in valuation is how many games a player has played. I haven't noticed this having too big of an effect, but this may be because of the limited numbers online. The only players with a fixed value are the ML default players.

You can initially sign 6 players to your team, but the more games you play the more players you can sign. In reality, you won't be able to afford to buy more than 3 or 4 players in one go. Players in your current squad can be sold (or released as it's called) from your Squad List screen.

Searching for potential players is similar to offline Master League. You can view by club, nationality or do an advanced search for certain criteria. Your entire Transfer History is stored incase you want to look back at previous purchases.

There are a few other screens that show various overall value and transfer statistics. Market Value Ranking shows the top valued players, currently Messi and Ronaldo on the 360 version, both currently costing over 14 million. There's also Rising Star Ranking %, which shows the players with the biggest % value increase, and Player Popularity Ranking which shows which players have been bought the most often.

No signs of player development yet, although this many change when more games are played. If there isn't any development., will there be any incentive to buy young, promising players in favour of established galaticos?

There are 3 ways in which your club is ranked. Divisional Ranking, Team Strength and Total Asset.

Divisional Ranking is pretty straightforward. You gain and lose divisional ranking points by playing matches. Everybody starts at 500 points and when you reach a certain level you get promoted, or indeed relegated. The number of points needed will depend on your division and the level of other players in the division. Promotion and Relegation takes place once a week. The current method seems harsh to me. Today, I've had two draws against higher ranked opposition and dropped over 30 points which puts me near the bottom of the division table.

Team Strength Ranking is based on the overall ratings of the clubs best 16 players, and Total Asset Ranking is based on the overall value of the club.

There's also an area where team history is stored. This includes the results of your last 20 matches, your overall record and past competition results.

With all of that out of the way, here's how you play the game.

There are three options for playing matches. Quick match, Quick Match (Coach Mode) and Competitions.

Quick match is the most common match you will play. Your opposition is chosen at random and you go straight to the match menu when paired up. There's little monetary reward, but playing matches will help improve your squad and your divisional ranking.
In Coach mode, you play role of coach. You won't have control over players, just the tactics.

Competitions are where you earn the real money. You will be charged an entrance fee, but this is easily recoverable by gate receipts. There are three competitions daily for your division, both normal and coach mode. Similar to PES 2010 online, you can join a competition at the time it says it starts, or later if all slot haven't been filled. You get 1 hour for qualification games, and your best 3 consecutive results are taken into account when calculating if you progress. In the knock-out phase, there are roughly 5 minutes between matches, which gives you a nice break as competitions can go on for nearly two hours. There is prize money on offer, which increases as you progress. Gate receipts are roughly 8x that of a quick match, so even if you fail to progress to the knock-out stage, you still earn plenty of money to improve your squad.

There you have it, pretty much everything there is to Master League Online. Quite how it will work with thousands of players competing at the same time is anyone's guess, but this Beta test in my eyes has been pretty successful. Konami will be able to use the data gathered off it's servers to tweak money and valuation issues, and results from the player feedback survey will give them more of an idea how to make final adjustments to the game.

Discussions can continue in this thread.